FreshGrass Commission: Willi Carlisle
FreshGrass is dedicated to providing roots music artists with opportunities to create new work and to take artistic risks outside the pressures of the commercial music space. We do this through several FreshGrass commissioning programs: the Composition Commission, FreshScores, Concertos, Residencies, and launching in 2024, Writing and Podcast Fellowships. To learn more about FreshGrass Commissions and the artists and organizations that have taken part, visit freshgrassfoundation.org/commissions
Arkansas native folksinger Willi Carlisle returns to FreshGrass, this year as the 2025 recipient of the FreshGrass Composition Commission, performing new music written for this commission for the first time in public. Previous FreshGrass Composing Commission recipients include Rhiannon Giddens, Aoife O’Donovan, Sarah Jarosz, Kronos Quartet, and Bill Frisell.
About Willi Carlisle
For folksinger Willi Carlisle, singing is healing. And by singing together, he believes we can begin to reckon with the inevitability of human suffering and grow in love. On his latest album, Critterland, Carlisle invites audiences to join him: “If we allow ourselves to sing together, there’s a release of sadness, maybe even a communal one. And so for me personally, singing, like the literal act of thinking through suffering, is really freeing,” he says.
Along with this release, 2024 has been extensively touring including opening slots for Tyler Childers’ major arena tour. If you haven’t seen Willi perform live, you’re in for a real treat. And if you have, you’ll get the privilege to enjoy brand new music exclusively at 2025 FreshGrass | Bentonville.
